It's raining doubletalk in the house of God

There has been some classic poppycock on the airwaves lately.

Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen gets the prize for his convoluted explanations why women are equal to men but should not become bishops. He quotes the Bible as the 'constitution' of the church and then says 'I believe the Bible says...'. So it's just a matter of belief, really.

While a clear majority of the three synods voted for female bishops, a two-thirds majority in all three is required for a change -- and this did not eventuate. Jensen tried to describe this as some sort of a mandate by boasting about the 'strong minority' that voted against women bishops. By that logic, Easts should have won the grand final on Sunday night because they scored a 'strong minority'.

Then there's the line that women are equal but they are different. God apparently gave men 'different' responsibilities eg they should be the 'leader' of a family, and therefore of the church. So, according to Jensen, a leader is equal to a subordinate -- just with different responsibilities! He brushed off questions about the many families headed by women.

Meanwhile the hard-core religious right is weighing into political propaganda -- these are the people who, along with Fred Nile, are getting a large share of Labor and Democrat preferences in the Senate this Saturday (a desperate attempt to block the growing Greens vote).

Their radio ads go back to the Reefer Madness days of the '40s with bad actors screaming that the Greens are going to expose YOUR children to drugs. The fact that your children are already exposed to drugs through a completely unregulated black market escapes their notice. Anyone with their eyes open who has raised a teenager lately knows that is is in fact easier for teenagers to get illicit drugs than alcohol because they don't need ID to buy them! Ironically, decriminalising the drugs and regulating their supply would limit access to drugs by teenagers -- the population group most prone to drug abuse because of their immaturity, and the group most vulnerable to potential harm.

So these fundamentalists are in fact advocating a system that increases harm to teenagers. (They also support the Iraq invasion even though children are being blown up all over the place as a result.)

You will be voting for these thin-lipped puritans if you vote above the line for Labor or the Dems on Saturday. To reduce the very real possibility of Fred Nile and his crew getting the balance of power in the Senate, fill out the whole form, making your own preference choices. Take a sharp pencil!

Keeping to the 'God on our side' theme, Donald Rumsfeld has finally admitted there is no hard evidence of any link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida. Gee, I thought that's why we invaded Iraq! And Paul Bremer has said that the US just didn't send in enough troops, and while he was administrator there,George W. refused his requests for more troops. You'd think if God was on their side they'd have better intelligence.